Qaeda group says behind Baghdad hotel bombing-Web

DUBAI (Reuters) - An al Qaeda-led group said on Tuesday it was behind a deadly suicide bombing at a Baghdad hotel in which several tribal leaders were killed and said it was in retaliation for the rape of a Sunni Muslim woman.

The self-styled Islamic State in Iraq said the attack targeted the tribal leaders from the western province of Anbar where the woman was allegedly raped by policemen.

"Members of the apostate police force at Anbar entered the house of one of our kin in Anbar ... they held the father in one room and took one of his daughters and violated her honour," it said in a statement posted on a Web site used by militants.

"Our leader ordered a quick response to this important matter," it said, adding that an Iraqi militant carried out the suicide bombing attack on Monday at the Mansour Hotel.

Ten people including six Sunni tribal leaders were killed in the attack at the hotel, where Sunni Arab tribal leaders from Anbar had gathered for a meeting.

It said the tribal leaders had "allowed those impure policemen into the land of (Sunni) Muslims".

Large groups of Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar have joined forces to form U.S.-backed provincial police units to fight against Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, prompting a bloody power struggle in the vast desert region.

The hotel is near Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone and is often used by provincial Iraqi officials visiting the capital. A number of foreigners also live in the hotel.